• Evacuated areas: Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for Easley Canyon, San Gabriel Canyon Road, as well as areas west of Glendora Boulevard, east of Azusa Avenue and north of Sierra Madre Boulevard.

• School Closures: St. Lucy’s Priory High School and Citrus College are closed. Azusa Pacific University said classes will continue as scheduled. Glendora Unified School District schools La Fetra, Cullen and Sellers elementary schools, as well as Goddard and Sandburg middle schools are closed. Glendora Unified School District officials said all of its schools will be open Friday.

Fire officials said they were cautiously optimistic that they could get a handle on the fire and that evacuees could be let back into their homes possibly by late Thursday night. Fierce winds had shifted direction by 11 a.m., causing the fire’s flank to move in a northwesterly direction — away from the homes.

But L.A. County firefighters were concerned about the fire’s spreading into San Gabriel Canyon and Fish Canyon in Duarte, just north of Foothill Boulevard.

Voluntary evacuations for residents in Duarte and Bradbury are in place, sheriff’s Lieutenant Ismael Chavez said.

Also lost in the fire was a flag on top of one of the hills, a cross, and the “A” placed in the hills above Azusa, according to a tweet from Azusa PD.

The Colby Fire was reported at 5:50 a.m. near Glendora Mountain Road and Colby Trail Motorway - about 3 to 4 miles north of Glendora - said Los Angeles County Fire Department Supervisor Kyle Sandford.

Fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, as well as two Super Scoopers battled the fire all morning Thursday. About 600 firefighter personnel attacked the fire, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Southerly winds whipped flames toward the communities of Glendora and Azusa, sending embers into mountain neighborhoods. Two homes were destroyed. Two people were injured but the severity of their injuries was not known, said Inspector Anthony Akins of L.A. County Fire.

Authorities ordered mandatory evacuations of Easley Canyon, as well as areas west of Glendora Boulevard and north of Sierra Madre Boulevard due to the three-alarm blaze, fire officials said. Shortly before 8 a.m., evacuations expanded west to the area between Highway 39 and Glendora Mountain Road, north of Sierra Madre Boulevard.

Hundreds of residents were evacuated from Mirador, Crystal Canyon and Mountain Cove, communities located in northern Azusa.

About 10 people came to the shelter at Memorial Park in Azusa Thursday afternoon.

“We could see the fire coming down the ridge and there was ash in the street, so we thought maybe we should go,” said Jan Sinnema, a Canyon Vista condominium resident who was at the Memorial Park shelter in Azusa.

“I think we have real nice accommodations so far and they even have an HD TV for us to stay informed,” Sinnema said. Residents of Azusa hoped they could get back into their homes by Thursday night, but there’s been no official order to that effect.

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Benedictine nuns from St. Lucy’s Priory High School in Glendora on Sierra Madre Boulevard were evacuated to a work center in Riverside County.

Azusa police said evacuated pets can be taken to the Pasadena Humane Society, 361 S. Raymond Ave. A shelter for horses has been set up at the Fairplex in Pomona, 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said.

Azusa police urged via Twitter for motorists to avoid driving toward the blaze. Officers also said there will be travel delays along the Foothill corridor. Garcia Trail in Azusa has been closed.

Glendora Unified School District officials reported that La Fetra, Cullen and Sellers elementary schools, as well as Goddard and Sandburg middle schools would be closed, but remaining sites would stay open.